will just have to find a way to merge accounts. It is not an issue of saving
a cart. It is trying to avoid duplicate customer records in the database for
those customers who do not want to "join".
members.
I assign a basket id. One to the user's array, and the other to a domain
array. The domain array also has a timestamp of when the id was assigned.
If the basket is exists in both arrays, the customer is active. When they
process an order, I assign the basket id to the domain array, then the
basket id to the user as a cookie.
Even if they close their browser and come back, I can still track them. I
compare the cookie with domain var and compare the timestamp with the time
the user submitted the order.
Then, if they want to shop again, I just do an Are you sure verification to
the user that they want to submit the order, and they already submitted an
order previously at the time that was stamped.
Another way to do it would be to use a table in the database to store
temporary shopping carts, but that can get messy.
Rick Sanders
President
902-401-7689
www.webenergy-sw.com
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 12:35 PM
Subject: RE: Witango-Talk: Avoiding Duplicate customers
Hi Dan,
Since the whole cart sits in a user var array, after a successful purchase I
dump the cart into a new user var array called something like last purchase
and create another user var called last purchase ts. If that user tries to
process another transaction within 15 minutes, I compare the carts and if
they are identical, I shift them to an error cart duplication page and let
them know that if this is not an error, come back in 15.
It's not the perfect solutions and I'm sure that someone else may have a
better one.
Shane Pearlman
831.345.7033
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 5:39 AM
Subject: Witango-Talk: Avoiding Duplicate customers
What have people found to be the best techniques for avoiding duplicate
customer entries on a ecomm site where you allow orders without sign up?
